The attorney general of Arizona said yesterday that the state had filed suit against General Motors, claiming that the automaker had defrauded the state’s consumers of an estimated $3 billion, the New York Times reported today. The suit is the first major legal action against GM over its record number of recalls this year, most notable among them one for a defective ignition switch in 2.6 million small cars that was delayed for a decade. The complaint was harsh and unsparing in its criticism of GM, suggesting that the automaker intentionally misled consumers through its advertising, website and public statements, and that some of its top leaders were complicit in the alleged misdeeds. It said “New GM,” the term used for the company that emerged from bankruptcy in 2009, “was not born innocent.”
